Urban Meyer Press Conference

We will update with information from the 4:30 PM EST Press Conference that Urban Meyer is having.  Some of the key questions are what exactly is the health issue bringing this decision on?  What time frame will Meyer be sidelined?  Hopefully this and other questions are answered with the press conference.

Prior to the press conference they bring on Pat Dooley from the Gainesville Sun who compared this to the Billy Donovan situation. The change of decision according to Dooley changed when Meyer came back on the field after seeing all the players again.  In his opinion the chances of Addazio or some other coach taking the field on the 2010 opener is quite likely.

Urban Meyer clarified that he will coach against Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl.  After talking with staff, family and players he has made the decision to just do a leave of absence and take advantage of this option.  Steve Addazio will in fact be the interim head coach for Florida during this time.  His decision to do a leave of absence rather than just leaving was because his love for the players as well as the practice they had last night was one of the determining factors.

Urban will be calling all the shots in the Sugar Bowl.  It will be his show, not Steve’s. Jeremy Foley came on and said it’s only fair that Meyer has a shot to come back when he’s healthy as it’s the right thing to do.  But overall the repeated talking with the players and interacting with them in practice yesterday sealed the deal for him to return eventually as head coach at Florida.

The question we were all waiting for was finally asked regarding his health concerns.  Urban states that it has to due with the chest pains he had started having 4 years ago and gets worse with stress.  After his hospital trip after the Alabama for this issue, Doctors told him that he needed to fix this or it could lead to worse things.

Urban was asked about talking with Billy Donovan as this similar circumstance happened with him to see if he had talked with Billy.  Urban hadn’t talked to Billy about this but can understand why the decision to not go was made.

Urban’s role wasn’t cleared up in the press conference but Meyer stated he wouldn’t just lay around so the exact responsibilities weren’t laid out.  The hiring of the new defensive coordinator is still up in the air on who will handle this.

Our man Tim Tebow was asked how it was for him and he responded with the typical answer that it was rough and a “whirlwind” for him.  He mentioned that he knew something wasn’t right and respects the decision that the coach makes.  Ryan Stamper was behind Tim Tebow basically repeating what Tim Tebow said.

Urban was asked if he would coach 2010 and he responded with that in his gut feeling he feels he will be back as coach but there is no exact time table laid out.  Their focus is on the bowl game now and they will clarify the roles of everyone as time goes on.